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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoArchitect's RenderingThe two new Columbia Gas buildings will be fronted by the beige-looking structure. The buildings will be just west of Nationwide Arena, on land that is now surface parking for the arena. Columbia expects to move in in late 2014.

Columbia Gas making big move -

The last major undeveloped site in the Arena District, located directly west of Nationwide
Arena, will be filled with a new headquarters for Columbia Gas of Ohio.

Columbia said yesterday it will relocate less than a mile from its current Downtown location, a
move that is expected in late 2014 and will include all 650 employees at the current site.

The utility said it is relocating because it needs room to grow and that its current lease will
expire in 2014. The company had considered suburban locations before deciding to stay in the
Downtown area, said Jack Partridge, president of Columbia Gas. It moved into its Civic Center Drive
offices in 1983.

"Our focus was to stay in central Ohio. That's the heart of our service territory."

The $50 million project will consist of two six-story office buildings and a parking garage. The
parcels, located at 240 and 290 Nationwide Boulevard, are surface parking lots now. The developer,
Nationwide Realty Investors, plans to seek a 10-year, 75 percent property-tax abatement from
the city of Columbus. Negotiations on behalf of Columbia were handled by the corporate parent,
NiSource, based in Indiana.

The company looked at other options, including remaining in the current building, moving to
another Downtown location or going to Easton, Dublin or New Albany, Partridge said.

Coming on the heels of Bob Evans Farms' announcement that it will move from the South Side to
New Albany, Dan Williamson, Mayor Michael B. Coleman's spokesman, said the mayor was happy to keep
Columbia near the Downtown core.

"The mayor did not want to lose them to the suburbs, and they were very seriously considering
the suburbs."

Williamson said the city is optimistic that new tenants will be found to fill Columbia's current
building overlooking the Scioto River, where the city has been investing millions in the
soon-to-open Scioto Mile project. Columbia occupies all 14 floors of its building there.

"That's an extremely attractive location," he said.

The building, which Columbia sold to an investment group in the 1980s and leased back, shouldn't
be a problem to fill, said Rob Click, senior managing director of the Columbus office of commercial
real-estate firm CB Richard Ellis.

"It's a good location with a good amount of attached parking," Click said. "That will give an
opportunity to try to possibly attract a company that isn't currently Downtown."

The Arena District has prospered in recent years while vacancy rates have remained high in the
Downtown core area. Click said that as of the end of last year, office vacancy in the Arena
District stood at 11 percent, compared with 18 percent for the core.

Partridge said Columbia Gas has pledged to help find tenants before it moves in 21/2 years.

In the new location, the company will have 208,000 square feet out of a total 280,000 square
feet. This will give Columbia room to grow that it doesn't have in the current space, Partridge
said. He added that the move will not affect customers' natural-gas rates, since Columbia's
real-estate costs will remain about the same.

The two office buildings will be connected by walkways on the top four floors. The complex will
have ground-floor retail space, and the adjacent garage will have about 1,400 spaces.

"There's really kind of a neat buzz going on around here," Partridge said, about his employees'
reaction to the announcement of the move. "That is such a vibrant area, and employees are looking
forward to it."

For Nationwide Realty, the project represents the last major piece of a development launched in
the late-1990s.

"We're excited about the opportunity to make that last major connection," said Brian J. Ellis,
president and chief operating officer of Nationwide Realty.

Once the project is complete, the Arena District will have about 1.6 million square feet of
office space in the square area between Neil Avenue and Front Street and Vine Street and Spring
Street. That is slightly more than the 1.5 million square feet that were part of the blueprint for
the development, he said.

Capitol Square, the real-estate arm of The Dispatch Printing Company, publisher of
The Dispatch, owns a 20 percent stake in the Arena District in partnership with
Nationwide.